MANKATO – If the Minnesota State men’s hockey team has a successful season, the Mavericks may well look back at this weekend.
“This was big for us,” senior goaltender Lassi Lehti said. “There were a lot of doubts and a lot of outside noise (after the first two weekends). I’m super proud of the way we’ve turned this around. If we have success this season, these are games we’ll probably look back on.”
Lehti made 30 saves as the Mavericks defeated St. Thomas 2-0 Saturday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center. The Mavericks won the series opener 3-1 at St. Thomas on Friday.
After opening the season with four losses, a couple of which were lopsided, the Mavericks grabbed some momentum heading into the CCHA schedule.
“Fragile might be the right word,” MSU coach Luke Strand said. “When you do the work and don’t get the result, it’s tough. You can either dig in and fix the problems, or you can sulk and pout. I think we learned some things (this weekend.)”
The first 15 minutes didn’t produce much excitement. Each team had a power play, though not much came from either one.
Finally, the Mavericks found the net. Jakob Stender passed up an open look from the point, feeding Sawyer Scholl near the goal line. Scholl buzzed the sharp-angle shot from the right side past Will Ingemann for the opening goal at 16:53. Liam Hupka also got an assist.
The second period didn’t provide any offense, though both teams were on the power play. Lehti and Ingemann stopped everything that was thrown at them, setting up the more intense third period.
The Mavericks had a 5-on-3 early in the third period but couldn’t stretch the lead. However, after the Tommies pulled Ingemann, MSU’s Alex Zetterberg scored on a breakaway, assisted by Liam Watkins.
“That took a lot of pressure off,” Lehti said. “That was a huge block by (Watkins) and a good job by (Zetterberg) to take it all the way.”
Lehti, who made 51 saves in Friday’s win, had 30 saves on Saturday. He made a couple of tremendous saves on point-blank chances in the final seven minutes.
“I think there’s a balance between the two nights,” Lehit said.
“Fifty-one shots is probably a couple too many, but sometimes it’s easier when you see a lot of shots. Those things are out of my control.”
St. Thomas (1-2) finished with a 30-25 advantage in shots, outshooting the Mavericks 28-17 in the final two periods.
The Tommies were 0-4 on the power play after going 1 of 8 on Friday.
“You’re best penalty killer is your goaltender,” Strand said. “I thought we did a nice job of keeping things to the outside. He had some great stops, and that’s confidence. I thought the group responded well.”
The Mavericks (2-4) open CCHA play on Friday and Saturday at home against Lake Superior State.
“There was a lot of team in this win,” Strand said. “That’s the identity of this team. We have to do things together.”